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The (Slow) Train to Scarville


Nile
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This is one of those itches that needed to be scratched. The inspiration for this was Handcross in the Feb 2018 Railway Modeller (a bit more on that here ), which was itself based on the Rev. Awdry's Ffarquhar branch. Ever since I saw it I'd been thinking about adapting it into a 009 layout by halving its dimensions. I've now finally gotten round to it.

I started by laying out some track on a sheet of Hobbycraft foamboard, which is roughly 3x2 feet, to see what would actually fit. Lack of curved points in 009 meant some adaption was needed.

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After a while I settled on a size of 1m by 2 feet (or 100x60cm) to fit what I wanted in. I drew up the final design in AnyRail, the track at the top will be behind a backscene.

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After much faffing about I settled on a baseboard design using pieces of insulation foam I had leftover, with a protective wooden frame around it. I started with the wooden frame, made up from strip wood glued and pinned together. In the photo some of the track has been laid out inside to prove it fits, while the last bits are glued together.

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As for the name, consider this an alternative take on Scarside rather than a direct replacement. The track plan is almost the same. That layout is still active and has a provisional booking for later this year. I added slow to the title to reflect the speed of build, I only work on this at weekends. And some Ethiopians may have influenced the name.

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Many thanks for the links back.  One eventually leads back to the Dec 1959 RM and Audry's Ffarquhar article in full; makes fascinating reading.  Somehow the track plan brought Foxdale station to mind, although there are differences in reality.  But it made me think that the are lots of opportunities here for 'off-scene' mining or quarrying activities, further up the valley, without actually needing space for them.

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Thanks for the replies and interest, I shall now try to move things on a bit.

The big void inside the wooden frame was filled with pieces of insulation foam (Knauf Spaceboard I think), one large piece and lots of smaller ones. All leftovers from other projects, glued together with PVA. The actual trackbed is 5mm foamboard from Hobbycraft. I've painted where the track will go with brown enamel paint in the scenic section.

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But before I glued the foamboard down I had to sort out the wiring and point control. For simplicity I've gone for wire in tube connected to toggle switches, plus I had all the bits needed for this. All the switches will be along the rear side where the fiddle yard is. Both the tubes and wires run in grooves cut into the top of the insulation foam and pass under the trackbed foamboard.  The trackbed was made first and marked out with the track. Holes for wires and point operating wires were made and then marked on the surface of the insulation foam. That way it was possible to fit fit all the wires and tubes in the right place before fixing the trackbed down.

Installing wires and tubes before the trackbed:

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The trackbed was split into several pieces, but it was still a bit awkward getting all those wires through the holes while installing them.

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With all the pieces glued down I could start track laying, beginning with the Y point at the front. With the curve at one end complete it was time to run the first train, even if only one third of the way round.

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Bank holiday bonus post! Happy Easter. :)

With track laying nearly complete, plus some wiring, it was possible to run a train around the circuit. An important feature of this layout is the ability to leave a train running around it.

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A horizontal strip of wood was fitted to the rear of the layout for the point control toggle switches. These not only physically move the point blades but also electrically switch the frogs. All the points are standard 009 with electro-frogs. The operating wires in tubes are wrapped around the base of the switches. Once adjusted they work well with a nice positive action.

With all the points and sections wired and working I could do some test running using the stock for Scarside.

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This may appear to some like playing trains (nowt wrong with that) but it's important to debug the layout before applying scenery. Such as working out where to put uncoupling magnets. There is room to run round three wagons in the station loop, longer trains need to be split.

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The post-it note on the right refers to a wiring fault I found during testing.

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Hello Neil, Impressive progress! I do like the method you have for mounting your point control - very neat. Also impressed by your post it note reminder. A great way not to forget those gremlins that you are going to deal with another time by which time you have forgotten what that gremlin was. Must remember that tip! 

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And now for some notes on wiring and control. The layout is divided into several electrical sections to allow more than one train to operate. In theory it should be possible to have one train circulating while another is shunting in the station. Common return wiring is used, with the outer rail being common. The wires from the sections run along the back of the layout, under the horizontal 'switch' shelf, to one corner where they are wired onto a socket.

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The control box with the section switches will plug into this, but as I haven't built it yet I'm using this temporary box. Inside all the sections are connected together, making the whole layout live. As some of the sidings and tracks can be isolated by the points, it's still possible to run a multi train service, but not two trains at once. The controller is one of my battery powered units I use for testing.

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To enable this to work from either side of the layout, and on other layouts (such as Coron), I later added a polarity switch.

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Moving on a bit to the start of scenic work. At this point the track has been painted and a start made to ballasting, between the rails only. The template for a road passing across the layout has been made from thin card. Starting at a level crossing at left it gradually rises to cross over the line at the right. An N scale model is sitting in for the yet to be made goods shed.

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The support structure for the road is under construction using pieces of foamboard.

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For the road itself I used 2mm mounting board. The stub on the right will lead to a sheep/cattle dock.

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Great progress Neil. Getting the road in gives some good perspective as to the lay of the land. I have to admit that I never seem to finish electrics before starting on scenery. My layout still has all the sections wired to one feed instead of section switches but it works - amazingly! Looking forward to seeing your progress.

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As the wiring will be buried under the scenery it needs to be right before I go any further. Later repairs or changes might be difficult, but not impossible.

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And here it comes, some scenery. Or at least the base for it. Some raised land will help separate the two halves of the layout. The foundation for this is made up from odd bits of insulation foam I had left over, all glued down and together with PVA.

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Over by the bridge is a second small halt that I've yet to name. Here I'm working out the clearance for the platform and its height. It will be a single layer of foam board.

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Something new for me, a water feature. I wanted to include a part of the Scar beck, that gives its name to the layout etc, even if it's only a small part. So I've cut down one corner, about as much as I could get away with. This will be a bit of the river bank.

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And thus it begins. This is basically Sculptamold with some brown paint mixed in. It can take several days to fully dry, depending how thick it is and the humidity. So this may take a while.

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Hello Neil, Well this weekends work certainly makes a big difference! Out of interest do you always use Sculptamold? Never used it myself but it looks a fairly clean method of bringing shape to the landscape whereas my usual plaster/filler method normally ends in some form of disaster that leads to strained domestic relationships!

Woody

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I've been using Sculptamold on and off for years, I like the ability to build up the landscape to any shape, eventually. It's like thick porridge so tends to stay where its put, I use a small spoon to place it and spread it around.

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The backscene is tricky as there is limited height in the layouts current storage location. A high one also limits the view from the rear, which is the operating position. My current thinking is a low (2-3 inches) permanent strip of card, to which a taller proper scenic backscene can be attached when needed.

The slow terraforming process with Sculptamold doesn't stop other things happening. I've also need working on the goods shed. I got the idea for this from pippindoo here:

Ideal as I had one of those and it just about fitted in the yard. I've filled in the unwanted side door and will fit windows at the top.

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I'm thinking of adding a small office building next to it, this one is a shortened Wills garden shed.

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Looking good Nile. 
 

I see you mentioned frog polarity switching and your wire in tube point control. I’ve not seen anyone do frog polarity switching (does it work on the blades too?) on OO9 points. How exactly did you wire this? 

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On 20/04/2021 at 22:40, LBSC123 said:

Looking good Nile. 
 

I see you mentioned frog polarity switching and your wire in tube point control. I’ve not seen anyone do frog polarity switching (does it work on the blades too?) on OO9 points. How exactly did you wire this? 

I might try a diagram later, but basically the switch is in addition to what the point blades are doing. I've not modified the point in any way.

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A few minutes with MS Paint produced this:

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The important thing is that the switch moves with the point blades, otherwise a short circuit can occur. 

Some point motors have such a switch built in.

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Chuffinghell's diagram above is the better practice of the two, with gaps between the frog & point blades.

Having the blades polarity-switched as well runs the great risk of short circuits from wheels touching both blades at the tie bar end as stock passes through the point.

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Some developments at the halt. The road bridge over the railway, which is the scenic exit, needed some abutments. I had enough Slater's stone Plastikard to make these:

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Here they are inserted into the scenery.

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The halt needed some sort of building, nothing grand. I went for a bit of Wills bashing of their platform shelter. Here's one I built earlier, last century I think.

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As well as shortening the roof I've swapped the sides around.

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In place on the platform.

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